Million Dollar Arm
Release Date: May 16

Walt Disney Studios Pictures

Starring: Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi, Bill Paxton, Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal, Lake Bell, and Alan Arkin

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Official Web site: http://movies.disney.com/million-dollar-arm


Facebook:www.Facebook.com/MillionDollarArm

Based on a true story, sports agent JB Bernstein (Jon Hamm) finds that business has changed and things aren't going well for his career. In a last ditch effort to save his livelihood he concocts a scheme to find baseball's next great pitching ace. Hoping to find a young cricket pitcher he can turn into a major league baseball star, JB travels to India to produce a reality show competition called "The Million Dollar Arm." With the help of cantankerous but eagle-eyed retired baseball scout Ray Poitevint (Alan Arkin), he discovers Dinesh (played by Madhur Mittal from "Slumdog Millionaire") and Rinku (played by Suraj Sharma from "Life of Pi"), two 18-year-old boys who have no idea about playing baseball, yet have a knack for throwing a fastball. Hoping to sign them to major league contracts and make a quick buck, JB brings the boys home to America to train. While the Americans are definitely out of their element in India, the boys, who have never left their rural villages, are equally challenged when they come to the States. As the boys learn the finer points of baseball, JB, with the help of his charming friend Brenda (Lake Bell), learns valuable life lessons about teamwork, commitment and what it means to be a family.

See the trailer here:

Talking with the Cast, Filmmakers and Real-Life Inspiration

There are a million reasons to fall in love with the inspirational movie "Million Dollar Arm." Based on a true story, this film depicts how real-life sports agent, JB Bernstein, came up with a seemingly far-fetched scheme to save his dwindling career. Hoping to discover new talent that he could turn into major league super-stars, JB went to India and produced a reality competition "The Million Dollar Arm." There he uncovered two potential pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel.

The film tells the story of how Rinku (played by Suraj Sharma "Life of Pi") and Dinesh (Madhur Mittal "Slumdog Millionaire") adjust to life in a foreign country and how America's favorite past-time turns out to be universally loved. Directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Mad Men's Jon Hamm as "JB," the film is sure to be a hit with sports fans and general movie lovers.

Some of the cast, and filmmakers, along with JB and Rinku, gathered in Hollywood recently to discuss bringing this special story to life on the big screen. The discussion kicked off with producer, Gordon Gray explaining how he, Mark Ciardi, and Joe Roth decided to produce this project.

"Mark and I had known JB for many, many years before we even got into the film business," Gordon begins. JB told Mark that he was planning on going to India to find pitchers. "So that's, that's the last we talked about it and then when JB came back with Rinku and Dinesh having been signed by Pittsburgh, they had thought that this would be a great idea for I think a doc and we immediately recognized that it, this had great potential as a feature film."

Joe adds "Everything attracted me to this project. I mean I knew the story, the basics of the story when Mark and Gordon came to me from ESPN. I was a big sports fan so it wasn't new to me and I wanted to get involved. I guess I'm the guy that people come to when they have these dream-like projects and haven't quite figured out how to get it done and we pursued it for quite some time. We developed it in another studio, they decided not to make it. We came to Disney and it just seemed to me like kind of a perfect Disney movie, which was from my days at Disney. It was always - what defined a Disney movie was just a really good story."

"And I love the second chance stories and I love fish-out-of-water stories," Joe continued. "I love the idea that I'm sitting in a movie theater and I'm thinking wow if these two guys can accomplish that, I can get up out of here when the lights get on and I can accomplish almost anything."

It's a product that the filmmakers are very proud to have made. "Every once in a while something turns out far greater than your greatest dreams," Joe admits. "It's an interesting thing because the combination, I never had any doubt about Jon or Lake and Craig who's not here because his father passed a few days ago and he's back in Australia. But ah when you see the finished product, you know we've screened this picture and ah whether you're a 12-year-old girl or a 55-year-old guy or vice versa, whatever, whether you're here or you're in India or you're in the UK, everybody comes away feeling great about the movie so this is something I'm very proud of!"

See a clip from the movie here:

Actor, Jon Hamm is also proud to be a part of such a special story. "I read the script and finished the script and loved it," Jon says about first hearing about this project. "And then looked back to the title page and went like wait a minute, 'This is true?' I am a huge baseball fan and somehow this flew under my radar and I didn't know."

"I immediately, like two hours later was in like a Google hall of finding out everything I could about this," he admits. "I was like 'oh my God, this actually happened!' It's just this incredibly uplifting story about thinking outside the box and, and really following through with something and working hard and succeeding."

Jon confesses that it was nice to play a decent guy for a while. "It's about 180 degrees from 'Don Draper,' this character that I play but it, it's affirming and it's uplifting and it's heartwarming and it's emotional and it's not a 'sports' movie so much as it's a movie that moves you. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the finished product and how much it's much more than a sum of its parts. It has this wonderful message and it's nice that I get to be in something that has... my day job I play not the greatest guy in the world."

"It works as a story and it works on several levels," Jon says, praising his colleagues. "And it's a testament to not only JB and Rinku and Dinesh's amazing true story, but it's also testament to Lake's wonderful performance. The boys are so fantastic in it and bring so much soul and depth to what could be just a one note kind of performance. They bring this whole world of emotion to it and, and it resonates."

"I was so pleased to see how Craig expertly managed the tone of the film to not veer into the world of sentimentality or sappiness or hokiness or over-earnestness or any of that and just stay true to the basics of the story which has this incredibly emotional component to it and having spoken to JB and, and learning that - these events changed his life positively. It's a tremendous honor to get to be able to tell that story and I'm so pleased with it. As Joe said... I'm so proud of it, this thing that we made and I just want people to see it, so tell everyone to go see it!"

See another clip from the movie here:

"But also I think [it's] a testament to Tom McCarthy, the writer," adds Lake Bell, who plays "Brenda" in the film. "I'm a huge fan of his as well, but I think that in the script everybody has their own world so you know the female character in a sea of male characters still is well thought out and has her own world. You know Brenda - that's what really attracted me to the script so much and you know because I think a sea of gentleman and in a sports movie perhaps the female character can get left on the sidelines and I felt [that] the character itself is very present and has a lot of energy and somewhat of an emotional catalyst for, for your emotional journey."

"You know, she's smart and she's layered," Lake says of her character. "Sometimes even for a supporting peripheral character that's sort of supporting his emotional journey that is often, I mean that's absolutely rare, so I'm very thankful to it. I think, also Craig's work in keeping it tonally. He encouraged me to be a little tough you know and I know JB said that the real Brenda you said she's a bad ass right?" JB agreed.

So how did JB think the filmmakers and cast do with the story of his life? "When someone's going to make a story about your life, there's a lot of trepidation," JB admits. "But because of the Roth guys and because of the Mayhem guys, I had a lot, a huge level of trust. I mean as Gordon says, I've known those guys forever so I kind of just stood back and let them put this together."

"I spent a lot of time with Tom (McCarthy)," JB continues. "And I think that, you know that's reflected in what Jon and Lake are talking about. He would call me at 3 o'clock in the morning... it's like 'What would Brenda say to you if you did this?' He spent a lot of time with Rinku and Dinesh and with the characters in real life. What's amazing about this story is all the major points in this story are true. My fish-out-of-water journey is almost exactly how it happened, down to costumes. Rinku and Dinesh's fish-out-of-water journey is exactly as it happened. The way I fell in love with my wife. Their first try-out failure, which was my fault 100%. Now I'm saying that in public, so I'm on the record."

"They're succeeding with their second tryout which was 100% their fault. So all the major beats in this movie are exactly how they happened. So yeah, when I watched the movie, my wife and I, you know we went to watch it and ah it does kind of feel like an out-of-body experience. The relationship between Jon and Lake in this movie is so like my relationship with Brenda and a lot of that, you know we owe to Tom, but also to these guys I mean, for never meeting Brenda it's almost like she's sitting right here right now. You know here like Lake chiming in on Jon and I'm just like oh my God, that's totally Brenda."

A lot of talented actors and filmmakers collaborated to bring this amazing, real-life story to the big screen for families everywhere to be inspired by the magic of it. Take your crew out to the movie theater on May 16 to root, root, root for the underdogs in "Million Dollar Arm!" Whether your or a baseball fan or not, this one knocks it out of the park!

Suraj Sharma and Madhur Mittal Talk Bringing "Rinku" and "Dinesh" to Life on The Big Screen

Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel's lives were changed forever when an American sports agent, JB Bernstein, arrived in India to host a reality competition called "The Million Dollar Arm." Their story is chronicled in the new, inspiring feature film, aptly named "Million Dollar Arm."

The real life duo are brought to life on-screen by "Life of Pi's" Suraj Sharma and Madhur Mittal of "Slumdog Millionaire" fame. The two actors, both natives of India, could relate to story of two guys who followed their talents wherever that might take them.

Recently Suraj and Madhur sat down with us to discuss their journey in the entertainment business thus far and making a movie that has the possibility to change people's live, both in America and back home. Here's more from two amazing young actors that help bring this great story to life on the big screen.

"Initially, when we read the script, the first things that both of us were hit by was the fact that this happened in our country and we had no idea about it," Suraj says about the first time he heard about the project. "And then we asked people and nobody knew anything!"

"It's amazing," adds Madhur. "These guys have done something that nobody has ever done in the history of mankind in any other sport."

"I think the story needed to reach out to people in India," Suraj chimes in about why the movie would become an important project for him.

"When we were given the script, I think we knew it was based on a true story," Madhur continued. "That's why we felt it was very important to reach the people. So that people know that there are other sports that Indians can do well in. These two guys really deserve a lot of applause and appreciation from people back home which they did not get. I think that should change hopefully, after this film."

As you will see in the film, after winning the reality competition, Rinku and Dinesh are brought to America to learn to play baseball and possibly get signed to a major league team. The actors were thrilled to work with their real-life counterparts.

"It was amazing!" Madhur says of his time spent with Rinku and Dinesh. "I think that was one of the main reasons that attracted me to the character and to the film was getting to play a real-life character. I'd never done that before. Suraj had never done that before. So it was great to get a chance to play a real life character. And what was even better was having a director like Craig who said, 'I want you to be these guys, but I don't want you to be a carbon copy in the sense of trying to completely try copy every single hand movement of theirs.'"

"What he said was, 'Try to get the essence of these guys,'" Suraj recalls. "For example, for me, the essence of 'Rinku,' which he's captures amazingly is the playfulness and the wittiness, and the adaptiveness and the self confidence that he has. Dinesh is completely different from Rinku in the sense that he is so innocent and so soft and so kind and so rooted to his home and so homesick, whereas, Rinku's taken to America like a fish to water. And Dinesh comes to America when we were shooting in Atlanta. It's been two or three hours since he's landed and I asked him 'So how does it feel to be back in America?' And he said, 'I already miss home.'"

"So it's amazing how these two really completely different people were pushed into this pressure cooker," he reasons. "And they came out on top, and became really amazing friends and they have this amazing sense of respect and understanding about each other. And they both understand where the other person is coming from even though, the personally would not react they way... they understand and respect why the other person is doing what he's doing, which is great to see."

Madhur agrees. "It's a super interesting dynamic. I don't think if Rinku and Dinesh were not in that situation that they would be the friends that they are, because they're different, completely different! You are the only sense of familiarity that you have."

"They were family for each other," Suraj adds.

Rinku and Dinesh's journey was something both men could relate to well. "I think we had pretty similar experiences," Suraj concludes. "There was like a parallel thing going on with us. For example, we were pushed into that same situation where we had three and half weeks of training and then you're shooting. So we had four hours of baseball every day, really rigorous. Then two hours of gym to put on some muscle so you look believable athletes on screen. It was very similar to the kind of situation that Rinku and Dinesh were in."

Like Rinku, Suraj has taken to America quite nicely. "I'm from New Delhi but right now I'm living and studying filmmaking in New York. That's what's been happening with me for the past year or such. We shot 'Million Dollar Arm' and then I went to start college. So I've been there since then."

Reflecting on his life-changing role in "Life of Pi," Suraj says, "It definitely changed everything for me, in good ways and in bad ways. It helped me grow up and gave me a sense of direction. Often as a teenager, a really messed up teenager, you just have no idea where you can go or what you want to do. You have no clue. You really need sometimes something to just push you in a direction, then you can follow it. 'Life of Pi' gave me that push."

Unlike Dinesh, who ultimately went back to India, Madhur is okay with staying in the US for a while. "I'm planning to move to Los Angeles very soon so I'll be here for a month, looking for a house, an apartment that I can afford. I'm planning to move here, getting much better work coming my way from down here."

He will miss his family back home though. "I was born in Agra, the city of the Taj Maha. I've lived in Bombay since I was five. My whole family moved to Bombay just so that I could become an actor. It's amazing to have that kind of supportive family. I am whatever I am, just because of the kind of family that I have."

Both actors are hoping that "Million Dollar Arm" will inspire its audience to take chances and dream big, especially the people in their country. "We can't know for sure but this is the hope!" Suraj says about the possibility of changing lives. "The thing is that people are all so locked down in their financial problems that nobody really thinks about anything outside of the box. Now, Rinku and Dinesh did this and it's out of the box, but the fact that it's out of the box and not in the mainstream understanding of the world, what happens is, they got completely, to some extent, sidelined even. So what we hope is that when this goes back people start understanding that there are opportunities, there are openings that are invisible unless you open your eyes."

The movie has already inspired Suraj and Madhur but what would they say was their favorite part of the whole experience? "I think my favorite part of the movie is Lake Bell," Madhur confesses. "I think she's going to surprise people in this film. She is unbelievably amazing. She is probably one of the best actresses I have worked with. So I think she's the surprise package of the film!"

"My favorite part about the entire experience of the film is everybody was amazing. Everybody taught me a lot," Suraj comments.

We bet it will be hard for movie-goers to pick a favorite part of this inspiring story. Take the whole family to see how JB ends up discovering new baseball talent in the unlikeliest of places. "Million Dollar Arm" opens May 16. See for yourself why the real Rinku and Dinesh must be so proud of Suraj and Madhur!

"Million Dollar Arm" Celebrates Premiere And Discovers New Pitching Talent Too!

The inspirational movie "Million Dollar Arm" opens in theaters on May 16. Cast, crew and friends gathered in Hollywood to celebrate the final product that tells the story of desperate sports agent JB Bernstein and his unconventional method of discovering two baseball stars.

Walt Disney Studios Pictures held a contest in conjunction with the release of the film hoping to find a pitcher who could throw over 100 miles an hour. Nine finalists were brought to the Green Carpet Premiere to try their luck. Josh Dahl of Glendale, AZ fell 6 mph short of the 100 goal, however, he did sign a contract with the real-life Mr. Bernstein.

Disney put together these photos to share! Click on the photo below to see them all!

Photos provided by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Our Review

"Million Dollar Arm" Hits a Home-Run With Movie Go-ers This Summer!

Looking for a summer feel-good movie to share with the whole family? "Million Dollar Arm" steps up to the plate! Based on a true story, the film introduces viewers to JB Bernstein, a once successful sports agent whose career is on a downward spiral. JB is played by "Mad Men's" Jon Hamm who manages to lose himself in this role as well.

Trying to salvage his career, JB comes up with a seemingly far-fetched plan to try to discover new baseball talent in India. By producing a reality competition called "The Million Dollar Arm," he meets Rinku and Dinesh and brings them back to America to learn to play baseball.

The young men handle the culture shock in completely different ways which makes their transition different even though they are going through the same experiences. Also changing, is JB who now has the responsibility of guiding two young men and helping them refine their talent. The trio's relationship proves that family doesn't always mean the parent's who gave birth to you.

Rinku and Dinesh come to life on the big screen thanks to Suraj Sharma (Rinku) and Madhur Mittal (Dinesh). Both actors, native to India, come from high profile projects like "Life of Pi," (Suraj) and "Slumdog Millionaire" (Madhur), but blend beautifully into this film.

What's a summer movie without a little romance? "MDA" has that too! Lake Bell plays "Brenda," a doctor who is a tenant of JB's guest house. Can JB's new outlook on life also include settling down with a wife?

Sometimes movies just get everything right. "Million Dollar Arm" sure is close! Well-acted, well-written, and well-produced, the film certainly inspires those who are willing to work hard and dream big. Anything is possible in this film and that is sure to leave a lasting impression on audiences everywhere.